Devils and Demons
by Vieux
Summary: Fem!Ryoma x Kirihara Akaya, featuring Rikkai!Ryoma / Echizen Riko: moved from America, drinks Ponta, lives through tennis/ normal school day: arriving late, sleeping in class, thinking about tennis /Kirihara Akaya: Lived in Japan his entire life, scored above a C once, lives through tennis/ personality: obnoxious, rude, bratty, sarcastic, funny, determined. Let the sparks fly.
1. Prologue: The Arrival

"Riko, we're here. Seisen Academy. It's a boarding school, but you can come home over the weekends if you want to." Rinko smiled at her daughter.

"Eh? She can come home? I thought we were getting rid of her for good-" with one look from Rinko, Nanjiro flinched. "I mean, of course she would want to come home. She'll be welcome. To play some tennis and visit me. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I meant."

"Che baka (1), why would I ever want to visit you?" Riko scoffed, pulling the first of her large luggage out of the taxi trunk.

"You wound me with your sharp words, seishounen(2)..." Nanjiro grumbled under his breath as he lifted his daughter's second luggage. "Hurry up, let's just go check in."

Walking up to the school, Riko noticed the excellent facilities and campus amenities. There were 6 full-length basketball courts, a sign indicating the location of an indoor swimming pool, 3 soccer fields, 3 running tracks, and another sign pointing towards an indoor gym complex just within her view. And then... her eyes fell on the real prize. A long row of tennis courts. "Hey mom, I needa use the bathroom," she said with a straight face. She turned around to go, until...

"Oh no you don't," a sharp voice said, as a hand grabbed the back of her shirt collar, pulling her off balance. She turned around to find her mother staring at her with the ever-famous Rinko glare only her mother could pull off. "I've lived around a tennis freak like your father long enough to recognise that look. Don't even try to pull one past me, I know where you want to go. You can go after we check in and drop your stuff off."

She scowled. "Fine, let's just keep moving. The faster we get this over with, the better.."

Strolling into a tall brick building, she couldn't help but feel the fancy-ness of the overall room. Maybe it was the cold marble floor, or the neat line of paintings.

"Hello, how may I help you today?" A female voice asked.

"Hello, I'm here with my daughter Echizen Riko? I believe I called the other day regarding her late enrolment," Rinko replied, smiling sweetly with no sign of her signature glare from before present on her face.

"Ah, Echizen! Yes, I have all your papers right here. I believe you missed the orientation, because your flight was delayed. No matter, I'll assign another student to show you around. So if you'll just sign here, please! And we'll take her from here!" The woman whipped out a clipboard, flipping to the desired page.

"Excellent. Thank you. If anything comes up, please drop us a call," Rinko said. "Oh and Riko, please leave us a message tonight so we know you've settled in."

"I know, I know, I will. Promise."

Her parents managed to sign the papers and leave within five minutes, but not without Nanjiro first attempting to hit on the receptionist, and then getting dragged out of the room by the ear (courtesy of her mother, of course).

"We'll have to go through the orientation first, and your bags look heavy. Why don't you leave your stuff here, I'll have someone take it up later." the woman (who, according to her name tag, was called Vicki) offered.

Riko nodded, leaving all her luggage except for her tennis bag. "I'd prefer carrying this one with me, if you don't mind…" _not that it would make a difference if you did,_ she resisted adding.

"Of course not. So first, we'll be heading to the enrolment office. You're lucky you chose to enroll a few weeks after school started, the first two days are always hectic."

After climbing up 3 ridiculously wide flights of stairs (did the school have a lot of students, or just have really... horizontally challenged people? Or perhaps they simply liked the grand effect?), they entered through tall mahogany double doors into the office.

"Hello Vicki. Who is this?" A tall blonde man was sitting in a chair, drinking something from a mug and checking off names on a paper.

"Hello. This is Echizen Riko. Riko, meet Coach Sakaki. He's doing the new student enrolment listings right now, but during tennis season, he's one of the three coaches."

Riko couldn't care less about the man, until the word "tennis" reached her ears. Immediately, she perked up. So this was one of the supposedly excellent but Spartan coaches of Seisen academy. She nodded her head in greeting.

After a long and overwhelmingly boring process where she had to fill out forms regarding her past school records, medical conditions (shouldn't that have been done during enrollment?), and for some reason, personal food preferences, she was told that there was only one more thing left to complete.

"As you may know, Seisen is an elite, but still large school. In order to make the student body more manageable, they are divided into three houses. Those houses are Hyotei, Rikkai Dai, and Seigaku (3). Each house runs by its own rules, but still in accordance to general school regulations. Do you have any questions?"

"What about sports?"

"In terms of sports, there are two separate systems. The first is the house-run system. Within each house, there are sports teams who compete against the other two houses. The second system is the school-wide system. There are 3 trimesters to complete a school year. Obviously, the season for each sport runs for less than half of that time, usually only 1 trimester. Thus, house competitions are held in the other two free trimesters, whereas during the season, a school team is formed. In order to ensure school team is of utmost quality and potential, competitions are held. Only the first string team plays in tournament games. However, there is also a second string, technically still considered to be 'regulars'. Those who are a part of the club, but do not qualify for either the first or the second string simply continue playing on the house team, or simply as a house activity."

"Practice schedules will be further explained by your house master, but practices can include members from all 3 houses, unless a particular house requests individual practice facilities," Vicki added with a cheery smile.

And with that, she was satisfied. After all, a person who ate, breathed, and lived tennis wasn't interested in much else. Perhaps there were a few questions that she should have asked, like what determined which house you were in, or how the rooming systems worked. But alas, she did have a rather one-track mind like her father. Well, to be exact, her dad had a two-tracked mind: tennis and girls.

"No more questions? Excellent. Of course, you'll be put in Seigaku, your father's house-"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I said no."

The man, what was his name again? looked startled. "Hm, what house do you want to be in, then?"

"How are house's normally determined?"

"Well we look at talents, past history, siblings, other relatives who are attending or have attended the school, bloodline, and also personality and preferences."

"Fine, which house has the best tennis team?" She demanded.

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well they're all relatively evenly matched, to be honest. But I have to say, I think that the best is-"

"Oh no don't listen to him," Vicki interrupted. "He coaches one of the teams, he's biased. All three of the teams are exceptional in terms of ability. Why do you ask?"

Riko started at her like it was obvious. "Well I want to play strong people. And I want to win."

Sakaki's eyes gleamed. "I was a bit unsure where to put you at first, but now I'm sure of it. You'll fit right in at Rikkaidai. Are you sure you don't want to be placed in Seigaku?"

Her deep scowl gave him enough of an answer, but she responded, "I'm not entering somewhere because of my father's history and merits."

-Time Skip Because I'm Too Lazy to Write Some Parts Here-

She zoned out through most of the orientation, and barely heard Vicki say she was going to quickly use the restroom. But she was brought back to reality by two people crashing straight into her, with another person looking disdainful while walking quickly behind them. She managed not to fall over, but staggered backwards from the impact.

"Ahh sorry sorry sorry~" the first one, a boy with bright pink hair who was chewing on green bubble gum that smelled like apples exclaimed with a grin. And then.. "Wait woah Riko?"

She blinked in surprise. "Bunta! You go to school here?"

"Ahahaha look! Yanagi-senpai (4), Marui-senpai has a girlfriend!"

Immediately her eyes snapped to the left, feeling the rage pooling in the pit of her stomach.

"Oh no no no, Akaya really didn't mean it like that Riko, don't do anything, just let it go... calm down, calm down, calm-"

BAM! An excellent upper cut straight in the ribs. Marui grimaced. "I tried to warn you, Akaya..."

Meanwhile, Yanagi continued to watch as Akaya lay collapsed on the ground, groaning in pain while clutching his right side.

She nodded to him. "Apologies for harming your friend, but he really deserved it."

He just nodded in agreement, as Akaya slowly pulled himself off of the ground, looking pissed.

"Oh, you wanna go? Come fight me!" He yelled.

Before she could move to hit him again though, Marui moved in between them. "Woah easy there. Please, Riko, calm down and use your words, not violence. And Akaya, stop provoking her. Oh and Yanagi, could you please act more responsible? Yukimura-buchou (5) did tell you to keep him in check after all!"

Yanagi pushed his glasses up. "I believe that your friend here has kept him in check plenty." He nodded in Riko's direction.

"Ok I guess introductions are in order. Riko, these are my friends and team mates, Yanagi Renji and Kirihara Akaya. Yanagi is in my year, and Kirihara's in yours ( **A/N: I know Ryoma is actually a year younger than Akaya, but for the sake of convenience in this fan fiction they are now in the same year :D)**. Yanagi, Kirihara, this is my friend from when we were younger, Echizen Riko. I visit her in the states when I go there for summer. We went to the same elementary school for a few years!"

At this, he turned to look at her. "You still play, right?"

"Of course. That goes without saying. Your friend's hair looks like seaweed," Riko blurted out. It had been bothering her since they'd first met, and if she didn't say it now it was going to kill her. After a moment of silence, Marui cracked up while Kirihara looked as if steam was about to come out of his ears, he was so mad. But before he could do anything...

"I'm back! Oh what's this? I see you've already met some of the tennis regulars from your house!" Vicki chirped in her (obnoxiously) happy voice. "Excellent, I'll leave you with them then, you've seen most of the school by now! Just tell them your room number when you're ready to go back to the dorm, they'll lead you there."

"Wait what-"But before she could say anything else, Vicki was already gone, leaving her with her friend, a slightly weird but seemingly smart guy, and... a seaweed hair idiot.

Suddenly, "Hey! you're carrying a tennis bag!" Apparently said idiot wasn't the most observant person either. "Play a match with me!"

"Uh no Akaya I really don't think you want to play against her.." Marui trailed off.

"Akaya-kun, I don't believe she's on the tennis team, and is thus not allowed on the courts. I also believe she must be jet lagged after flying here from America, as Marui-kun previously told us. As she is on the same floor as you, why don't you show her to her room, wherever it may be. Marui-kun and I need to purchase our class books." And with that, her friend and the slightly weird but seemingly smart guy left, leaving her with... the seaweed hair idiot. Great.

"So what's your room number?" He seemed to have already forgotten about her uppercut to his ribs previously, or he had gotten over it. Perhaps it hadn't been as hard as she had thought it was.

"411 B"

He blinked once. twice. three times. "AHHH SO YOU'RE MY ROOM MATE!"

"Sorry what?" She felt confused. Room mate? No, she was a girl. And he was a guy. At least, she was pretty sure he was a guy. Yes, he was definitely a guy. He must have lost his mind. Maybe her uppercut was a lot harder than she thought it was, and it somehow struck a nerve in him causing his brain to malfunction and-

Her thoughts were cut off by his loud voice exclaiming "Aww that's not fair! How come I have to room with a girl, but Yukimura-buchou gets to room alone? And Niou-senpai gets to room with Yanagi-senpai! Even Yanagi-senpai somehow got to room with his friend in Seigaku, but I have to room with a GIRL?" He truly looked distraught. Meanwhile, she was pissed.

"Excuse me, but are you saying there is something _wrong_ with being a girl? And also, what the hell are you talking about? Not only are classes co-ed, but rooming is... is... _mixed_ as well?"

He blinked. "Yeah of course. You didn't know? I mean, there are separate teams for sports and stuff, but it's not uncommon if a girl is really good at the sport to join the guys' team or vice versa. A lot of the girls' sports teams are just fan clubs for the guys' teams anyways, like the tennis club for example."

She blinked. Oh, hell no.

 **A/N: Anddd there's the prologue! Honestly, it should just be chapter 1 but I really like using the word 'prologue' because it makes me feel sophisticated :D**

 **(1) Baka- basically it means stupid, or idiot  
** **(2) Seihounen- Nanjirzou uses it a lot with Ryoma. It basically means young one, youth, etc.  
** **(3) Hyotei, Rikkaidai, Seigaku- I included these three because they're the biggest 3 schools in the anime. Later on, during tournaments, I will introduce schools like Fudomine, St. Rudolph, Yamabuki, Shitenhouji, etc. etc. And I know that the full name for Seigaku is actually Seishun Gauken, but putting that would indicate that it's a middle school, so I just used 'Seigaku'  
** **(4) -senpai, -kun, etc. - basically these are honourifics, which show the nature of your relationship with this person. For example, -senpai is for someone who is in a grade that is above yours. You can attach senpai to someone's name (i.e. Yanagi-senpai) but you can't really do that with kouhai (see below) (at least, I've never heard anyone say that around me). -kun is someone who you are acquaintances with. More honourifics will be explained if necessary, or as they're used.  
** **(5) buchou = captain**

 **Review if you have anything to.. like.. review :D Sorry about the formatting issues, they have been fixed.  
** **Next update: Probably tomorrow because I'm on summer break and I have no life but drawing, watching anime, eating, and reading/writing fan fiction**


	2. CH 1: The Rikkai Regulars- Oh and Jackal

**A/N: Yay update! I love writing this story :D Also, I'm starting the plot outline for a new one-shot, with Shiraishi x OC. I might turn it into a full length story. Meanwhile, read and enjoy this new chapter~**

* * *

Chapter 1: The Rikkaidai Regulars- Oh, and Also Poor Jackal

Akaya offered to show Riko back to their room so she could get settled in. As they walked there, they discussed favourite tennis players and brands.

"A new grip tape came out the other day but I haven't gotten the chance to try it because my parents sent me to residential camp over the summer," Akaya whined.

Riko smirked. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about _this_ grip tape, would you?" With that, she reached a hand into her tennis bag and pulled out a roll of the newest grip tape in the tennis market.

"SUGOI! Where did you buy that? When I got back they were all sold out!"

"Pre-ordered it months before it came out," she smirked. "In fact, I have another roll too." She pulled out a second unopened roll of the same grip tape.

"Can I have it?"

"Yadda."

"Aww why?"

"…"

"Che. Oh look, we're here. This is the room. I already set my stuff out on the right side of the room, because first come first serve, right?" Akaya opened a door and Riko saw two separate doors. They entered through the one straight in front. "That door over there is our suite mates' room, I haven't met any of them yet."

She nodded, fine with the fact he had taken the right side. She preferred the left side anyways, it was closer to the door. She found that her stuff had already been delivered, just like Vicki had promised. A quick glance around revealed the room to have two bunk beds, two desks, two closets, a flat screen TV, a mini-fridge, and a microwave. And there were also two couches nicely arranged. Overall, 'cozy' would have been the perfect word to describe their room. Then, she noticed two doors, one on the left and one on the right. "Hey, what are those for?"

"Oh those? Well the one on the left goes to another room and the one on the right is the bathroom." Kirihara said proudly, seemingly excited at being able to show someone else around.

"Someone else's room?"

"Yeah, our suite mates. They have a three-person room. When rooming arrangements are made, there's 5 people to a suite, which has 2 rooms. One room has 3 people and the other has two."

"Ok. I'm gonna lay my stuff out. Wait, why are there two bunk beds? Do we have more roommates?"

"Nah I dunno why we have two bunk beds but they sure are useful. Oh by the way I set up my xbox already," Akaya grinned. "You know how to play?"

"Yeah sure. What games do you have?"

At that, Akaya bounced towards his suitcase, which lay open on the ground. He tossed a few things randomly out of the way until he turned around, looking distraught, and wailed, "I FORGOT TO BRING MY GAMES!"

"Mada mada dane, Kirihara-kun."

"Hey, you little brat, that's not very nice! And you can just call me Akaya, Kirihara-kun sounds weird."

She smirked and nodded in understanding. "I brought my entire game collection, so we can still game."

Immediately Akaya's eyes brightened. "YES! What do you have?"

After a long, heated argument over which game to play first, they managed to agree on Halo 4. "You know Destiny came out right? I heard it's pretty terrible." Akaya asked as he loaded the game.

"Yeah, the gameplay is definitely not up to standard in comparison with the company's other games."

With that, they ended up gaming for two and a half hours, occasionally shouting curses at each other but never tearing their eyes away from the screen. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

* * *

"Pause it and go answer the door," Riko called as she frantically jammed buttons on the controller.

"No, you pause it, I'm on a roll right now," Akaya snapped.

Finally, they both paused the game and got up to answer the door, because it was obvious that neither of them was going to do it alone. Opening the door revealed..

"Hah? Marui-senpai? Niou-senpai? Yanagi-senpai? And Sanada-fukubuchou, Yukimura-buchou, and Yagyuu-senpai too? What are you guys doing here?" Akaya pondered out loud.

Meanwhile, Riko noticed that another bald headed boy seemed to be silently moping in the corner. "What the hell, why is he upset?" She asked Akaya.

"Huh? Who's upset? I don't see anyone- OH WAIT there you are Jackal-senpai, I didn't notice you at first!"

The entire team sweatdropped at Akaya's insensitive words. Marui patted his doubles partner on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry Jackal. At least Riko noticed you. Just barely, of course."

Meanwhile, Riko was still feeling confused as to why a hoard of guys was suddenly in front of her dorm room. "Who are you guys?"

"Oh, these are the Rikkai tennis regulars. You already know Akaya, Yanagi, and me, so everyone else can just introduce themselves," Marui sang as he flopped casually down onto the first couch.

Closing the door behind him, a slightly feminine blue-haired boy began. "Hello Riko, I am Yukimura Seiichi, captain of the Rikkai tennis team. It's a pleasure to meet you!" He smiled brightly.

 _Man, even his voice is feminine._

"I'm Sanada Genichirou, the vice captain of the Rikkai team. Nice to meet you."

 _Hm how old is he? I thought he was the coach or something…_

And then Riko realized everyone was staring at her. Oh no, did she say it out loud?

"Yes, you did." _Well crap looks like I said that out loud too…_

A guy with glasses cleared his throat and said, "Hello, my name is Yagyuu Hiroshi, and I play doubles with my partner Niou. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

 _Damn he's polite, such a gentleman_ , Riko thought to herself, careful to keep her mouth shut this time.

"Niou Masaharu, yoroshiku. I'm a regular and I play doubles with Yeah-gyuu, puri." The boy with a rattail smirked, and stuck his tongue out.

 _What the hell does 'puri' mean?_

"And there you have it, all the regulars!" Marui cheered.

"Marui…" A low voice said softly. Everyone turned and looked at…

"OH! JACKEL! SORRY! Sorry sorry sorry sorry-" Marui hastily tried to apologize and cover up his mistake, to no avail.

"It's ok. I'm Jackal Kuwahara, the normal one who is always forgotten…" The bald guy mumbled.

 _He isn't from Japan, is he? Anyways, maybe if he had a more stand-out-ish personality someone would notice him-_

"Jackal's from Brazil, puri."

 _Ah. So I was right._

"Echizen Riko. Yoroshiku." The entire team minus Sanada sweatdropped again at her mechanical, stern greeting.

* * *

"I BROUGHT CAKE," Marui yelled, and everything began from there.

A few hours later, Riko was furiously gaming against Yanagi, Yukimura was sitting delicately on one of the desk chairs, Sanada was chasing Niou (who was actually Yagyuu) around because his hat had gone missing, and Yagyuu (who was actually Niou) was busy stealing slices of Marui's cake. Akaya was bouncing on his top bunk, while Jackal was sitting in the corner reading manga.

"Hey, Riko, what's in that large bag in your closet?" Marui called. Riko and Yanagi paused their game, as everyone else stopped what they were doing to look up at what Marui was pointing at.

"Oh that? It's nothing."

"Tell mee!"

"It's nothing."

"Tell meeeeee"

"Yanagi-senpai, let's continue our game." And just like that, Marui was ignored and the black bag was forgotten.

"I do believe we've had enough fun for the day. After all, classes begin tomorrow and no offense Kirihara-kun, but your track record, in terms of academic performance, is not particularly outstanding in any way.

"But Yukimura-buchou, Yanagi-kun just promised to show me how to unlock a new gun-"

"TARUNDORU! You dare disrespect your captain?" With an eek, Kirihara dove behind Marui, hiding from Sanada.

"Ok, ok. We'll sleep early tonight, fukubuchou."

"No, you will sleep right after we leave this room."

"But what about unpacking?"

"Too bad you didn't think of that earlier. Akaya, you have no excuse because you were the here early in the day, unlike Riko who arrived late," Yagyuu pointed out, pushing up his glasses.

"In fact, I'm frankly surprised that Akaya was relatively on time. Only late by 30 minutes. I do believe that's his personal record. I must add this to my data…"

"Not you too, Yanagi-kun!"

No one noticed the quiet "piyo" that "Yanagi" added after his words except Riko.

 _Ah, so he really is a master of disguise and Rikkai's resident trickster..._

* * *

Soon, the entire Rikkai Dai team exited Riko and Akaya's dorm room, leaving the two first years to themselves. Riko was in the restroom brushing her teeth and washing her face, so Akaya rooted through the rest of their game stash. He heard her exit the bathroom and close the door. A few seconds later…

"So, do you wanna try another game?" Upon hearing no response, he turned around, only to find that Riko was already asleep on the top bunk, completely unaware of her surroundings.

"Majikayo (1)…"

With that, Akaya brushed his teeth, washed up, and crawled into bed as well, turning off the light. He had a feeling that his first year in high school would be rather…

 _Interesting_ , to say the least.

"Goodnight."

No response.

Well then.

* * *

 **A/N: Ahaha Akaya = rejected :D Poor child... Yeah this chapter is kind of short (in comparison to my other chapters, at least), because I'm traveling in Japan right now, so apologies :) Review if you want to, I'll give you guys sushi :D**


	3. CH 2: Echizen vs Kaidoh

**A/N: Sorry for not updating, but was down for anyone else as well? I kept getting a 503 error. Anyways. So the last chapter was more of a character development chapter, so we'll be continuing the plot line in this one. I'd like to remind everyone that this story is going to be very long, so most of the Riko/Akaya action will be gradual. Also, I think people really want to see Riko play some tennis so… yeah. Obviously not everything will be the same as the manga or anime, I mean this is a fanfiction.**

 **Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited, or reviewed! Especially those who did all three! The encouragement is really motivating:)**

 **Enjoy this chapter~**

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Ughhhh Kirihara get the alarm..."

"God dammit no you get it."

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

"I wanna sleep, turn it off!"

"No, come on Echizen..."

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE-

The alarm immediately silenced as Riko grabbed a tennis ball next to her and tossed it towards the clock. With that, they both went back to sleep.

9:13 AM:

"Ah shit get up Echizen we're latee!"

Kirihara jumped out of his bed and tossed a random shirt from his suitcase on (backwards). "Echizen, if you don't get up we'll entirely miss first period!"

With that, Riko sat up, yawning and stretching. "Huh? Ohayou.."

"Echizen get out of bed, we gotta go!"

"Ah gotcha gotcha... Oh crap yeah we're really late..."

Three minutes later they were both sprinting down the hall towards their respective classrooms, which happened to be next door to each other.

Riko walked casually into her classroom and nodded to the teacher.

The teacher gave her a long, scrutinizing gaze (as did the rest of the class) before saying, "It's nice of you to join us. Would you mind explaining exactly why you are more than an hour late for my class?"

"...I fell down the stairs."

"For an hour? Must have been a very long fall."

"No, I fell and went back to my room because I missed the orientation and didn't know where the infirmary was."

"Alright, but I expect you to be on time tomorrow. I'll let you off with a warning today. Please take a seat next to Choutarou. Choutarou, raise your hand."

A silver-headed boy with a cross necklace quickly thrust his hand into the air, smiling and waving shyly. Riko sat down next to him. The teacher continued her explanation on a series of wars in Russia. 15 minutes from the end of class, she assigned 3 in-class worksheets, but came up to Riko and said, "Choutarou will take you into the adjacent study room and go over the previous part of the lesson you missed."

"Hi, um my name is Choutarou, I'm a first year. Yoroshiku!"

"Echizen Riko. Yoroshiku. So what house are you in?"

"Ah Hyotei. You?"

"Rikkaidai. So what did I miss?"

"Not much really, here, you can borrow my notes if you want?"

For the remaining time of class, Riko quickly scanned Choutarou's notes, finding that they were extremely neat and well written. Then they engaged in brief conversation, where she found out that he played tennis as well.

He did certainly have a good build, being extremely tall in opposition to her short stature. When the bell rang, signaling the end of first period (honestly Riko was only present for around 30 minutes anyways), she and Choutarou had become pretty good buddies. "Yeah I'm eating lunch with some second years and their friends, you can join us," he offered.

Riko nodded and grinned. "You're joining the tennis club aren't you? Rikkai's going to kick your butt."

"Hyotei won't lose!" Choutarou declared as he left, forming a fist with his right hand. They decided to meet in front of Riko's second class because Choutarou's friend also had class on the second floor.

Her second period was English. Riko remembered taking the acceleration test to have her put into the second years' honors class. But she didn't remember anyone telling her if she passed. Oh well. She's just assume. Honestly she was pretty sure the English lessons would be relatively easy, being from America after all. As she entered the class, she noticed quite a few of the Rikkai tennis regulars were in her class.

"Hello Riko, do you happen to need something?" An angelic voice that could only belong to Yukimura said.

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StartFragment

"Actually this is my classroom, senpai."

"Ah yes, you moved from America, correct?"

Before she could answer, another soft voice chimed in. "Is this your new friend, Yukimura?"

"Good morning Fuji. And yes, this is Echizen Riko. She is rooming with Akaya."

"Hello, Echizen-chan. You are a first year, are you not?" She turned to find a smiling boy with honey brown hair. But before she could answer, someone else interrupted.

"Ahn, there is a first year in ore-sama's class?" Riko found a tall boy sitting in the seat next to hers. He looked disdainful. "This is unacceptable, ore-sama does not believe a mere first year can qualify for this accelerated course!"

"Che don't be arrogant, monkey king."

"What did you just call ore-sama?"

"Saru no taishou!" She sang, smirking at his scowl.

"Class is beginning. Please take your seats. You my dear, you can sit right here next to Jirou-kun. Echizen Riko, correct? I believe the class roster was not updated correctly, but your textbook will arrive very soon. Meanwhile, you can share with Jirou-kun."

"...Hai."

"Jirou, please raise your hand. Jirou-kun. Jirou!"

Jirou, a cute blonde with sleepy looking eyes, looked up, grinned sheepishly, and waved at her.

Within 5 minutes of class starting, her eyes were already drooping shut, and by the time the clock hit 10 minutes into class, she was already fast asleep, dreaming about Karupin.

Something uncomfortable prodded her. She ignored it, but it keep poking and prodding until she jumped up, glaring. "What the hell is disturbing my sleep?"

And then she realized that she had yelled it out loud, the thing that was poking her had been the teacher's ruler, and everyone was staring at her. "What? Che stop staring." With that, she sat down again and pretended like nothing happened.

"Please do not disturb class." The teacher scolded her.

Riko completely ignored her, the only sign she gave of even having heard the remark was a slow, bored "Haiiiii..."

"Ok now we will be engaging in team jeopardy. Your seat mate will be your partner, and the team with the most points will win a prize."

"Ore-sama will win regardless of who he is paired with."

"Oi monkey king you better be ready because you're going down." Riko taunted.

"You brat, that should be ore-sama's line!"

"Ok class come up with your team name and write it on the board please."

In the end, Fuji and Yukimura were the "Sadistic team", Mukahi and Oishitari called themselves the "Dirty team", and everyone else paired off quickly. Jirou suggested calling their team the "Sleeping team", and Riko had no objections. However, she soon found a few other girls shooting her looks of jealousy and admiration but she ignored them. They probably just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. The jeopardy went something like this:

Question 1:

Riko: "We'll take Grammar 500."

Atobe: "Che brat feeling confident, huh?"

Question 2:

Atobe: "Vocabulary 500."

Riko: "I hope you get it wrong monkey king."

And so on. By the end of class, Riko had achieved two things: 1. She and Jirou had become quick friends 2. She was ahead of monkey king by 300 points.

"Ore-sama cannot believe that a little brat like you won."

"Really? But Riko-chan is so smart, her English is great!" Jirou cheered.

Atobe scoffed.

Exiting her second class, Riko waited near the door until Choutarou showed up.

"Hi! Wait you're in the same class as Mukahi-senpai, Atobe-buchou, and Oishitari-senpai? Oh and Jirou-senpai is in your class too?"

"You mean your one of monkey king's subjects? Funny, you don't look much like a monkey." Riko tilted her head to the side, feigning innocence.

While Choutarou looked confused, Atobe looked livid and Oishitari and Mukahi snickered quietly in the corner.

"Choutarou, please do not tell ore-sama you mean for this... Plebian to eat lunch with us," Atobe sniffed, looking down at Riko with evident disdain.

"Ah...well-"

"OI ECHIZEN! Come on!" With a grunt, she staggered as Kirihara jumped on top of her back. "Are you going to eat lunch with us? We're eating with Seigaku and Hyotei regulars in the back of the school. You coming? Come on, buchou told me to grab youuu!"

"Ah perfect. Kirihara-kun, we were just heading over as well. Why don't you bring Echizen-chan with us," Oishitari suggested as he adjusted the messenger bag on his shoulder.

"YAY! Come on, Echizen!"

Immediately, Riko tried to back away. "I'm..uh... I gotta.. Go..."

"Don't be silly! Come on." With that, Kirihara grabbed Riko's arm and began dragging her down the hall, whining about what his teacher did to him since he was late. "She let me off with a warning, but threatened to implement more severe consequences if it ever happened again! Do you understand how horrible this is?" he wailed.

"Wakata, wakata (1). Same thing happened to me."

"Really?" At this, he immediately seemed to look brighter. "Yoshi, let's go!"

Five minutes later, Riko found herself behind the school in a pleasant grove of trees, along with the Rikkai regulars and two other groups of people that she didn't recognize.

"Etto.. Kirihara-san, who is this?" A guy wearing a blue and white jersey asked, looking confused.

"This is my roommate Echizen Riko. She's from America and I heard she plays tennis really well!"

"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu." Once again, everyone sweat-dropped at her mechanical greeting.

She was quickly introduced to the Seigaku and Hyotei members. Everyone was rather diplomatic, until..

"Che who is the brat? Ore-sama could defeat her in mere seconds."

"Please don't be so arrogant Atobe. Although, based on her build, I estimate her power to only be around 63% of Fuji's. Her ability stats seem a bit better, lying at around 78% compared to the Seigaku team average. Hm, this is interesting, her speed seems to exceed the team average by-"

"Oi, you stupid megane (2), I could take you down without you taking even 3 matches from me," Riko snapped, starting to lose her temper.

"Whoa there, come on Riko, just-" Bunta's attempts at calming his friend's fiery temper were completely ignored.

"Fshhhhh, how can a little female freshman like you insult Inui-senpai? Fshhh, let me deal with this."

"Come at me, Mamushi (3)," Riko spat, feeling irritated. "One set match. You can serve."

Kaidoh hissed and glared in response.

As they entered the courts, there was a stare-off between Riko and Kaidoh, which resulted in Kaidoh turning and walking away.

"You better watch out for that Viper," Momoshiro warned.

Seconds later, everyone was gathered around the tennis courts, watching the face-off between Riko and Kaidoh. Oishi sat high in the chair, looking slightly concerned.

"Uh.. One set match. Kaidoh to serve. Tezuka, should we really let them do this?"

"This will be an interesting skills assessment. I'll allow it to continue."

"Wow, that freshman is playing Kaidoh! And he's a regular!"

"Rough or smooth?" Kaidoh snarled.

"I already told you. You can serve. It's fine." Kaidoh immediately scowled.

"Fine fine. Smooth. Don't complain about this later when you lose."

The racquet spun and ended up smooth.

"Ah ok. Nevermind. One set match. Echizen to serve."

Riko served her signature move: the twist serve. Kaidoh dodged to the side as the tennis ball flew towards his face. They rallied back and forth for awhile. Kaidoh hit a lob, and Riko smashed it using only 50% of her strength. No point revealing anything at this point. Kaidoh managed to hit the ball, but it clipped the net. Everyone watched breathlessly, wondering whose side it would fall on. Riko lost her cap as she came down from her smash, but the ball landed on Kaidoh's side of the court.

"15-Love."

They continued their rallying until suddenly, Kaidoh shifted into a very weird position.

"Ah, so he's going to use that now.." Momoshiro muttered.

"Echizen pulled it out of him rather quickly though, don't you think?" Fuji smiled as he turned to Tezuka questioningly.

"It simply means that Kaidoh is starting to get serious." Tezuka kept up his stoic expression and pushed his glasses up slightly.

Kaidoh hit an odd shot. Riko darted to the side, but missed the ball as it unexpectedly curved sharply towards her left.

While on the outside she seemed to be shocked, she wasn't. On the inside, she was already carefully taking in information about the serve- it's trajectory, speed, power, and spin.

She wouldn't be caught off guard again. The next time Kaidoh served, she easily returned it with a rather light shot. It was best not to reveal all the tricks up her sleeve right now. She smirked and switched the racquet to her left hand.

"Mada mada dane."

"That Ochibi plays with his left hand?! Wow, nya~"

"Hm… what do you think, Inui?" Fuji turned to his left, smiling in his usual manner.

"While Eiji does have a point in that his being ambidextirous is rather impressive, I believe that this should not be a difficult fight for Kaidoh. Given the current stats, the freshman does not have enough power or agility to overcome such an opponent. Not to mention, his snake shot leads to his real goal, which is…"

"….to tire his opponents and drain their stamina."

"Wow, Riko's sweating quite a bit. The day seems to be really warm too," Akaya commented.

"Hm. It seems he's fallen into Kaidoh's trap," Yukimura murmured, watching the freshman girl dart back and forth, returning all of Kaidoh's shots.

Akaya frowned. The match was becoming pretty intense. But even in the short time he had known his roommate, he could tell that she wasn't the type to give up easily.

 _What will you do now, Riko?_

 **A/N: So technically this doesn't end on a cliffy because if you've watched the anime you know what happens next. I'm sick with a cold, but I didn't want to miss the first two days of school, so I went anyways. Now I think I'll probably be bedridden. Life sucks sometimes :P I'll stop now because you guys probably don't want to hear anymore about my lack of a life :D**


	4. CH 3: Trapping the Snake

**A/N: Hi back with a new chapter. From my last chapter, some people seemed to be confused about which year Riko was in. Echizen Riko is a first year, not a second year. I never said she was a second year, I only said that for the sake of fanfiction I would put her in the same year as Akaya, who is also a freshman. Also, you may notice that in Chapter 1 (or the chapter after the prologue) Akaya 'thinks' about his** _ **first**_ **year of high school. Sorry if any of you were confused about that, but hopefully this clears it up. Enjoy~**

 _Previously on Devils and Demons:_

"… _.to tire his opponents and drain their stamina."_

" _Wow, Riko's sweating quite a bit. The day seems to be really warm too," Akaya commented._

" _Hm. It seems he's fallen into Kaidoh's trap," Yukimura murmured, watching the freshman girl dart back and forth, returning all of Kaidoh's shots._

 _Akaya frowned. The match was becoming pretty intense. But even in the short time he had known his roommate, he could tell that she wasn't the type to give up easily._

 _What will you do now, Riko?_

* * *

Chapter 3: Trapping the Snake

Riko was sweating. Yes, she was sweating _a lot_. But she wasn't worried, because she definitely had a plan. In fact, her plan, if successful, would make Kaidoh sweat three times as much as her. She was well prepared, enough to return his snake the next time it came.

They began rallying again, and she purposely hit an easy ball to Kaidoh. Immediately, she saw him get into the odd stance. She pretended to dart out to the right. Seeing this, Kaidoh hit his snake. Predicting the sharp curve to the left, Riko darted out and managed to return the snake easily and casually.

"SUGOI! Riko-chan returned Kaidoh-chan's snake!" Jirou cheered loudly.

"…..Kaidoh-chan?" Oishitari puzzled, while everyone else sweat-dropped.

"Wow, that freshman is pretty good. Wonder what Mamushi will do now…" Momoshiro muttered, watching the intense game in front of him.

"Hm it is rather surprising that she managed to return Kaidoh's snake. Perhaps I errored in my calculations. Allow me to make a few adjustments… ah yes, I should change a few numbers here….." Inui murmured softly, his voice trailing off as he scribbled in his ever-present notebook.

"You must not be careless, _Doctor_." Yanagi watched the game, an impassive look on his face.

"Likewise, _Professor_." Inui's glasses glinted, Yanagi developed an odd aura, and everyone else not-so-subtly shuffled away from the two of them.

Meanwhile, the game continued. Riko would take a game, and then Kaidoh would somehow manage to take it back.

"Two games to three, Kaidoh lead," Oishi called out, sweating slightly from the heat of the sun.

Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, Kaidoh seemed to experience difficulties in returning Riko's shots. His returns were becoming increasingly sloppy as well.

"Ehh? What's happening to Kaidoh, nya?" Eiji wondered, bouncing up and down in curiosity.

"Ah. I see." Fuji smiled.

"Huh? What do you see, Fujiko? Come on, tell me, nya!"

"Ah yes, it's simply a matter of time before Kaidoh realizes it as well." Inui's glasses glinted again.

On the court, Kaidoh scowled. _This freshman should be at her limit. This is the last ball. She won't be able to get it-_

He frowned as Riko easily returned it.

 _Why is she not tired yet? How can she still find the energy? Wait wha- Her shots are getting stronger and faster. She keeps hitting it to these awkward, hard to reach places._

And then, he accidentally hit a lob. _Shit!_

Riko smirked and smashed it heavily. That's when Kaidoh realized.

 _Wait, she's not getting stronger or faster. Then that means… no… it can't be… I'm getting… slower?_

"How is this possible?" he roared.

Fuji smiled, but his eyes (while closed) narrowed. "It seems like Kaidoh has figured it out. But it's already over. The mental burden of someone who knew their opponent's plan and laid one themselves is much different than that of someone who thought they held the upper hand but later discovered that they fell into their opponent's trap instead. It is over now."

In the end, Riko won the match six games to four. "Mada mada, dane!" She smirked.

"Fshhhhhhh! Kaidoh hissed, glaring piercingly.

"SUGOI! GOOD JOB RIKO-CHAN! SUGOI SUGOI!" Jirou cheered, bouncing up, down, left, and right with his excess energy.

All of the regulars from all three houses congratulated Riko, although it was obvious Kaidoh's "congratulation" was extremely forced. After defeating Kaidoh, Riko could see grudging looks of acceptance on a few faces and happy surprise on others.

"Well brat, ore-sama could have-"

"Save it, monkey king."

"SUGOI RIKO-CHAN! SUGOI!"

"Hush child," she spoke to Jirou, mockingly and sarcastically putting a finger to her lips as she said it.

"Oi, Echizen, we gotta go buy lunch," Akaya called. With that, the two freshman left, heading towards the lunch stands.

Yukimura chuckled. "That was rather interesting."

"But not completely unexpected," Yanagi replied.

* * *

About 10 minutes later, the group of regulars were waiting for Riko and Akaya to return, because Yagyuu, Oishi, Tezuka, and Oishitari, who actually had manners, insisted that everyone must be present before they could start eating.

"Oh come on Yeah-gyuu, I'm starving," Niou groaned, dragging out his double partner's name, much to the other boy's annoyance.

"Niou-kun, it is impolite and very… barbaric, not to mention uncivilized, to begin eating before all members are-"

"Present at the table, yeah yeah, I know. This isn't even a formal meal!" Niou was beginning to get impatient. So were a few other regulars. Momoshiro had taken to lying on his stomach and staring longingly at his food, while trying not to flinch under Tezuka's steely, hawk-eye gaze.

"It's unlikely for them to be taking so long. Why don't we go check and see what's up?" Choutarou suggested, looking rather concerned.

So that was how the entire group of regulars from all three houses found themselves wandering the lunch stands, searching for Riko and Akaya. At first, only Yukimura, Eiji, and Hiyoshi were supposed to go, but then Marui said he needed to buy some desserts for his next class, and Jirou just wanted to hang out with Marui, and then Oishitari was sent to go watch over Jirou, but Gakuto found himself in a dilemma ("I wanna go with Yuushi but I don't wanna be anywhere _near_ that other Seigaku member who calls himself an acrobat!"), and one thing lead to another, until finally they decided to just all go.

"There is a 23% chance they are at the candy stand, which is to the right."

"No, I believe we should go to the left, as there is a 46% chance for them to be at the sandwich booth.."

In the end, they were at neither, and it was Niou, with his better-than-average observation abilities, who was able to locate the two.

There was a very notable air of hostility surrounding the two freshman.

"It's my bento, because I saw it first," Riko snapped.

"Well I got to it first, so you can curse your slow legs and short stature while you watch me enjoy my lunch," Akaya retorted.

He did not just insult her height. "Well actually, the owner of the stand likes me more so _you_ can blame your hideous black hair when you have to find something else, _Wakame_!"

"HOW DARE YOU! IT'S MY BENTO AND THAT'S FINAL!" Akaya yelled, losing his temper.

"NO, IT'S MINE, NO ONE TOUCHES MY BENTO, MINE, M-I-N-E, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Riko roared back.

Everyone else watching the event sighed at their childish-ness, while Inui and Yanagi frantically took down data.

And then…

"WE SETTLE THIS THROUGH TENNIS, CHIBI-CHAN!"

"BRING IT ON, SEAWEED HEAD!"

Suddenly, they both silenced as Yukimura chuckled and stepped between them.

"I would love for you two to have a match, but I'm afraid the bento you have been so aggressively fighting over was purchased by another student 3 mintues ago."

Silence.

And then…

"EHHHHHH? USO!"

Immediately both Riko and Akaya began emitting strange, dark auras. "Hey Wakame, what do you say, we find this kid and beat them up?"

"Yeah, who do they think they are, taking MY bento like that!"

"IT'S MY BENTO! WE HAVE TO GET MY BENTO BACK!"

"WAIT NO IT'S MINE!"

Everyone groaned loudly.

* * *

Compared to that, the rest of lunch was mostly peaceful.

As if.

Kaidoh and Momoshiro got into a fight over whether Momoshiro had spilled soy sauce on Kaidoh's bandana, or whether Kaidoh had dropped his bandana into Momoshiro's soy sauce. Marui was busy eating his cake, until he noticed the pastries that Jackal had brought, which resulted in him chasing the poor Brazilian around the large tree, pleading for 'just a taste'. To make matters worse, Niou had first impersonated Marui, tricking Jirou into throwing a tennis ball and knocking the Hyotei captain out clean. Then, he decided to impersonate Atobe, while hiding the real buchou behind another tree, and command Kabaji to "borrow" (without permission) Inui's glasses and Shishido's cap. Sanada ran around yelling "TARUNDORU", trying to discipline the unruly bunch. And Oishi was busy being a mother hen, trying to save everyone from the madness known as Eiji, who was challenging Gakuto to an acrobatics face-off.

On the side, sitting peacefully under the shade was Yukimura, Tezuka, Fuji, Oishitari, Yagyuu, and Yanagi (as well as an unconscious Atobe). While Tezuka, Oishitari, Yanagi, and Yagyuu were all looking very stressed, likely due to having to babysit such an unruly bunch, Yukimura and Fuji both simply smiled, discussing their gardens.

Riko, on the other hand, was definitely, _definitely_ not smiling. She had been forced to purchase _Western_ foods for lunch, and not having a Japanese lunch made her very grumpy indeed. She also couldn't figure out exactly what kind of sugar diet the regulars must be on, to behave to energetically all the time.

Finally, kami-sama took mercy on everyone in the school and gave a blessing, in the form of a ringing bell signaling the end of lunch.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the short chapter but I have Spanish homework because school started again. Let me tell you skipping two levels of Spanish in high school is a bad idea.**

 **This was basically just another "bonding" moment between all the regulars. And some tennis. I have almost finished the entire plot-line for this story, and I can say it will definitely be longer than 20 chapters.**

 **Review, favourite, etc. if you have any comments :) Or if you are bored and want to talk to someone like me who has no social life. Yup.**

 **Anyways thank you to everyone who reviewed my previous few chapters! Y'all are so awesome, inspirational, and moving :D**

 **Bye :)**

 **P.S. I recovered from my cold, yay!**

* * *

Next Up: 

"Ok now offense but I really question how you got into this academy. Did you know it's for the _elite_? I mean, your academic performance just goes to show that obviously your family pulled a few strings. Where are you from, anyways?"

"Che the "elite"? That doesn't explain how someone like you got in. Average height, average looks, average skills in sports, the only thing that's not average is your intelligence level, it's low beyond comprehension. Oh, and your- Hey, I'm not done yet, what are you doing? Why are you pulling me away, senpai?! Hey!"

"Echizen-kun, might I remind you that it is very rude to speak like that to someone, especially a stranger? And I also must congratulate you for remembering to call me your senpai."

"Yagyuu- _chan_ , might I remind _you_ that I really don't care? I was just teaching that person a lesson."

"Well I don't advise you to go around _teaching people lessons_ , especially when you _might_ _encounter_ them again at the tennis club try outs this afternoon. Good day, I must take my leave, but consider yourself warned."

"Huh? Encounter them again at tryouts? Whaat? Senpai, I'm confused. Senpai? Wait hey don't just leave me here!"


	5. CH 4: Fukubuchou Coming Through Guys!

**A/N: Yay update, go me! Anyways, I also wrote a plot line for another story, which I've just posted the first chapter to. It's called Snowy Enigma, and will also be around 20 chapters. Yup self-promotion for the win. Check it out if you want to, but it's cool if you don't :) I've also decided to start replying to a few of the reviews because I feel like it's so rude if I ignore everyone who took their own time to comment on my story. Skip if you aren't interested in reading any replies.**

Bookworm54321: Haha you'll see who Riko was yelling at in this chapter, but more of the backstory will be clarified next chapter. This chapter mainly sets the stage and overviews reputations. Thanks for the review and encouragement :)

Ageha Yume: I know you commented last last chapter, and I already cleared it up, but I would just like to clarify once again to acknowledge your question, that Riko is definitely for sure a first year, not a second year. When I said she and Akaya would be in the same year, I meant that they would both be first years. Thanks for the question, hopefully it's all clear now :)

* * *

Previously, on Devils and Demons: 

" _I would love for you two to have a match, but I'm afraid the bento you have been so aggressively fighting over was purchased by another student 3 mintues ago."_

 _Silence._

 _And then…_

" _EHHHHHH? USO!"_

 _Immediately both Riko and Akaya began emitting strange, dark auras. "Hey Wakame, what do you say, we find this kid and beat them up?"_

" _Yeah, who do they think they are, taking MY bento like that!"_

" _IT'S MY BENTO! WE HAVE TO GET MY BENTO BACK!"_

" _WAIT NO IT'S MINE!"_

* * *

Riko was walking down the hall after her third class, looking for the office where she was supposed to pick up a few textbooks. It didn't take long for her to get lost in the twisting corridors, but luckily through her wanderings she ran into Yagyuu, who had his break period and offered to escort her.

As the two walked, Yagyuu was introducing different elements of the school that would eventually, he claimed, help her navigation. Although Riko mostly just thought that all the walls looked identical, as did the paintings.

"So as you can see here, this is the music hallway, which you'll obviously recognize because there's a long row of paintings depicting musicians. See, you have Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin on the wall space directly across and between the next to the first four classrooms-"

"Senpai, these paintings look the same as the ones in the other hallway we were just walking through."

"Echizen-kun, we were just in the history hallway. And the portraits depicted Alexander the Great, the first Japanese Shogun, and Queen Elizabeth, which were obviously nothing like these paintings here."

"Really? I don't see any difference, Yagyuu-senpai."

"Ok now offense but I really question how you got into this academy. Did you know it's for the _elite_? I mean, your academic performance just goes to show that obviously your family pulled a few strings. Where are you from, anyways?" They stopped walking and Riko whipped around at the voice. It was a girl with pale brown hair and blonde highlights. She seemed snobby and very much like a drama queen.

Riko couldn't help but scoff. "Che the "elite"? That doesn't explain how someone like you got in. Average height, average looks, average skills in sports, the only thing that's not average is your intelligence level, it's low beyond comprehension. Oh, and your- Hey, I'm not done yet, what are you doing? Why are you pulling me away, senpai?! Hey!" She kicked and yelled as Yagyuu dragged her further down the hallway with a surprisingly strong grip.

"Echizen-kun, might I remind you that it is very rude to speak like that to someone, especially a stranger? And I also must congratulate you for remembering to call me your senpai today, you normally forget." Yagyuu's glasses glinted.

"Yagyuu- _chan_ , might I remind _you_ that I really don't care? I was just teaching that person a lesson," Riko mocked.

"Well I don't advise you to go around _teaching people lessons_ , especially when you _might_ _encounter_ them again at the tennis club try outs this afternoon. Good day, I must take my leave, but consider yourself warned." And with that, Yagyuu turned around and left.

"Huh? Encounter them again at tryouts? Whaat? Senpai, I'm confused. Senpai? Wait hey don't just leave me here!" Riko wailed, before realizing that she was already out of the music corridor and in front of the administration office.

* * *

After picking up her textbooks, Riko slid into the last available seat in her science class. She barely managed to stay awake through her last class, yawning and rubbing her eyes drowsily. The teacher didn't seem to mind too much, probably waving it off as jetlag. Finally, the agonizing wait was over, and she was free to head towards club activities. She immediately changed into more comfortable clothes that she could move around in. She also wore a cap. Heading towards the tennis registration club, she slowed once she saw how long the line was.

This would require some strategy. Thinking deeply for a moment, Riko brightened as she thought of an idea.

"OI OI OI, OUT OF THE WAY! LOOK, RIKKAIDAI FUKUBUCHOU SANADA-SENPAI IS COMING THROUGH!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

The effect was immediate. The crowd parted cleanly, creating a perfect aisle for Riko to walk down. She waltzed up to the front desk and turned in her registration form, writing down her house and picking up her rikkai uniform as well. She signed her name and tugged her cap lower, flashing a victory sign as she left. It took awhile, but suddenly the entire line was in an uproar over what had just happened. She could feel their glares on her, and feel their whispers.

"What's with that guy? He's such a jerk…"

"You have to say, that guy's pretty smart though…"

She smirked to herself. Her cap disguise had worked. Casually, she entered the girl's restroom, making sure no one was watching. After changing into the uniform, she quickly jogged to the first court, where all the other new members seemed to be waiting. Yukimura, Tezuka, and Atobe were no where to be seen, probably in some sort of buchou meeting, but the rest of the regulars were there.

"Hello, welcome to the Seisen Tennis Club. Please do a self-introduction to the other members while we wait!" Marui greeted cheerfully.

Riko sweatdropped. She moved slightly closer, dropped her racket on "accident", and when she bent to pick it up, she whispered in his ear, "can't tell that it's me?"

Immediately she felt Marui's entire body stiffen, and then to cover up, he said, "Oh er don't be too nervous, or nervous enough to drop your racket. Tennis is fun. Why don't you start with what year you're in?"

Everyone else around them snickered, obviously sneering at Riko in contempt. She would show them later. "Call me Echizen. I'm a first year. Yoroshiku." She strategically left out her first name.

More people began to arrive, and suddenly, Riko saw someone who was vaguely familiar but she couldn't put a finger on it. The girl with brown hair and blonde highlights must not have been that important. Perhaps she had seen her around?

"Echizen-kun. Do you recognize anyone?" Yagyuu muttered as everyone else mulled around, socializing as they waited for the captains.

"Huh? No, I don't think so."

"Don't you remember her?" Yagyuu gestured subtly towards the girl .

"…Who's that?"

Immediately Yagyuu sweatdropped in exasperation, wondering how the girl could have forgotten someone she had fought with earlier in the same day.

"..Nevermind. Looks like Yukimura is here, why don't you begin warm ups with everyone else."

* * *

As she did her warm-ups, Riko tried to remember if she had seen the girl before, but she kept drawing up a blank. Despite not particularly knowing the girl, Riko could already tell that she wasn't going to like her. She was the type of girl who fluttered, yes, fluttered, around in flouncy expensive skirts and flirted with just about anything with a Y chromosome.

"Who's that?" She asked, tapping the boy next to her.

He turned around. "Huh? Oh that? That's Hiroko Kimura. She's the captain of the girl's tennis team."

"What? There's a girl's tennis team? I mean, not that I would ever join of course," she couldn't help but add when she saw the other boy's suspicious glance.

"…Well it's just a fan club. Really, she's just president of the gir;'s tennis club because there's already a fanclub for the tennis team, so it already has a president, vice president, and senator, and there really isn't much need for her. But I guess she does have to be useful in the club somehow if she want's an excuse to hang around the regulars. So she formulated the "girls' tennis club". She also has a sort of reputation, so I would stay at a distance if I were you. She's dated a lot of guys."

"Are you guys talking about Kimura-kun?" Another first year sat down next to them.

"I know everything about Kimura-kun, I have two years experience not only in tennis, but also with Kimura-kun! I can give you advice if you're planning to date her or anything?" The third boy, with a thick almost unibrow and odd brownish hair, sat down next to them as well and pointed proudly at his self. "I'm Horio, by the way. Is your tennis good? I was taught by an expert for two years! If you ever need help, I can mentor you!"

Riko rolled her eyes.

"Alright. Seisen tennis team, please gather. We are now done with warm-ups, so we will continue by playing matches with other players. Obviously these matches will be used to show case your potential, and will also be used to measure the difference in skill level between you and another opponent. Is that clear?" Tezuka looked stony faced as usual, and his voice was steady and strict.

"Hai!" Everyone chorused.

"Hello Echizen- _chan_. Yukimura-kun assigned me as your opponent."

Riko turned around to see a smirking Inui with his glasses on and his ever present notebook tucked safely under his arm.

Well then.

She raised her racket. "Mada mada dane."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry short chapter, mainly because I was working out a few kinks in the plotline, as well as trying to finish the first chapter for Snowy Enigma (and a general plot outline for it), which is my new story (Shiraishi x OC).**

 **Please comment if you have any comments or concerns. Yes, I know I just used comment twice. So anyways if you do comment any advice, suggestions, questions, ideas, etc. I will definitely try to respond on my next chapter, or at least PM you.**

 **Thanks to everyone who read/currently reads my story/stories, because y'all are so great and I really appreciate it :)**

 **Ciao**

* * *

Next Up, on Devils and Demons:

"Mada mada dane, Inui-senpai."

"Excellent as expected, wouldn't you say so too, Sanada?"

"Hm. She lost a few games where she could have taken them easily, but other than that it was an interesting match."

"Strict as usual, I agree with Yukimura that the match was certainly interesting. Why don't we try her in doubles? I can check some of her statistics and cross reference them with my carefully calculated predictions."

"Excellent idea. Echizen, come here."

"EHHH? BUCHOU? DOUBLES? What? I don't play doubles!"

"But Riko, don't you know that real tennis players play…. Doubles and not singles? Don't you want to be a _real_ player?"

"EHH? Really? How do you know, senpai?"

"Trust me and go along with it."

"…Ok."

=Teaser Over=

In the next chapter, we will see Riko vs. Inui, Riko in doubles, and also an interesting confrontation between Riko and Hiroko!

See you guys next time :)


	6. CH 5: Of Data-Men & Bullies

**A/N: Another update in the same week? I'm on a roll here. It's mostly thanks to you guys who read and write lovely reviews :3 I dedicate this chapter to my friend (if you're reading, you know who you are) because it's her birthday today. Enjoy the showdown between Riko and Hiroko. I just realized how similar their names are, this was not smart naming at all D: I actually have legit reasons why I name characters the way I do, though.**

 **Anyways, enjoy~**

Sassbrat: Yes, between Riko and Hiroko, we all know who's going down :D This chapter was so fun to write. Thanks for your review :)

VanriddleZ: That's really nice of you to say, thank you! I hope you like this chapter as well, then :)

Previously, on Devils and Demons:

" _Hello Echizen-chan. Yukimura-kun assigned me as your opponent."_

 _Riko turned around to see a smirking Inui with his glasses on and his ever present notebook tucked safely under his arm._

 _Well then._

 _She raised her racket. "Mada mada dane."_

CH 5: Of Data-men and Bullies

"Inui-senpai, why do I have to play you? I want to play fukubuchou." Everyone sighed at Riko's bluntness.

"Well I apologize for not being Sanada-san, but as it seems this is Yukimura's will, why don't we have a match?"

Riko shrugged. "I don't care. I'll beat you." And with that, she turned around and marched to the base line, calling over her shoulder, "and I'll let you serve as well."

The match between Inui and Riko was drawing quite a bit of attention, as it was rare for a new member to directly play one of the regulars.

"Ne, who is that boy?"

"He's playing against Inui-senpai!"

"SUGOI! LOOK, IT'S RI-" Before Jirou could give away Riko's true identity, Oishitari and Mukahi silenced him, with the latter looking around slightly nervously.

"Jirou! Hush! Someone might find out!" Choutarou whispered.

As Inui and Riko continued rallying, it was clear that Inui had the upper hand, predicting most of Riko's moves and effectively countering them, returning them to difficult or hard-to-reach places on the court.

"Ochibi's going to lose against Inui, nya!"

"I believe Eiji is correct. It's like she's playing a match against herself!" Oishi said.

"I wouldn't be so sure. The game has just started, right Yukimura-kun?" Fuji smiled, turning slightly to the Rikkaidai captain.

"Right. I'm sure Riko has something up her sleeve, she always seems to."

And he was right.

Riko began to walk back to the baseline after Inui had taken another game from her. But then, she stopped halfway and turned around. "Mada mada dane, senpai."

"Why does he always have to say that?" A first year asked.

"OH I know why!" Horio exclaimed, causing all the first years to surround him immediately.

When Riko reached the baseline, she smirked. "I was saving this for Nationals, but it looks like I'll have to bring it out now." She began bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

Everyone looked confused. "Split-step, nya? Why is Ochibi using the split step?"

Watching the beginning of the first game cleared the confusion for the regulars. With the help of her split step, Riko was able to reach balls that Inui originally calculated she wouldn't be able to.

"Why can Ochibi suddenly reach the balls? Ne, Fujiko, what's going on?"

"The split step is efficient, but it can only take you so far. If you look closely….."

"…..Riko's split step is actually one-footed." Yagyuu finished for Fuji.

"This gives her even greater reach, because her other foot can directly maneuver to her will without first touching the ground," Oishitari explained to a very confused Choutarou, Shishido, and Mukahi.

"SUGOI! ECHIZEN-CHAN SUGOI! KAKOI!" Jirou cheered loudly. The regulars all glanced around nervously, wondering if anyone else had heard the blunder. But thankfully if anyone did, they seemed to just brush it off as Jirou's natural tendency to call people with cutesy nicknames or –chan.

The rally progressed, and it was obvious Riko had turned the game in her favor.

And then she smirked, pointed her racquet at Inui, and said, "Senpai, I know a type of ball you can't return even if you know where it's going."

Ultimately, of course, Riko won the game, with everyone else in total aw of the "new freshman guy". Who, little did they know, wasn't a guy at all.

Coach Sakaki and Sumire were both watching from the office window, which oversaw the tennis courts. "I told you she was pretty good."

"Hm. She is interesting indeed. Shame she joined Rikkaidai."

"….You could have put her in Hyotei if you had wanted to."

"At that point in time, when I assigned her house, I was unaware of the extent of her abilities. It was not worth the risk."

Meanwhile, back at the tennis courts…

"Echizen-kun, you're so good! How come no one has heard of you in the boy's youth tennis circuit?" A brown-haired freshman boy asked animatedly.

"KYA! ECHIZEN-KUN!" All the girls gathered around the tennis court screamed.

"BE MY GIRLFRIEND, ECHIZEN-SAMA!"

"MARRY ME!"

Riko grimaced. Perhaps dressing and disguising oneself as a boy did have it's downfalls as well. Then she decided that she didn't feel like being a boy anymore.

Turning around, Riko pulled off her hat and said to the boy, "Maybe because I lived in America? Or because I'm not a boy."

Everything fell silent and all the people around them stared. And then…

"USOOOO! (1)"

"WAIT THAT FRESHMAN IS A GIRL?"

"What?"

"What's going on?"

There were waves of endless chatter and confusion spreading through the tennis club members.

To the side, Yagyuu and Oishi were rubbing their temples, trying not to cry at the extra stress and chaos Riko had just caused.

Admist the chaos, Riko noticed that the girl Horio had been talking about before was obviously bullying two other freshman girls. Riko recognized both of them from her science class. The one named Tomoka was rather loud and annoying, but the one named Sakuno, who she'd heard was Ryuzaki Sumire's grand-daughter, seemed quiet and reserved. Either way, none of them deserved to be picked on. From the distance, she could just barely pick up her voice saying, "You two don't belong here. The regulars would never even _look_ at you, come back in 10 years when you grow up. Oh, and, don't wear shirts like that, they look disgusting."

Riko pushed through the crowd and walked over. "Hm what's going on here? Bullying? These girls are completely fine, you don't own these courts. In fact, I remember you were a freshman too at some point. Are you saying that you didn't admire any of the regulars then? Oh and by the way, I quite like these shirts, they show school spirit, unlike you." With that, she grabbed the two younger girls and brought them to where the rest of the fangirls were standing.

"Etto… Arigato, Riko-chan!"

"ARIGATO!" Tomoka screamed as well.

Riko nodded, and entered the gates to the court, ready to practice with her next opponent.

Suddenly, "Excuse me, but you must leave the tennis court."

Spinning around, Riko saw the girl. "Excuse me? Who are you?"

Immediately the other girl's nostrils flared. "Well well, not only bratty but stupid as well. I would think you should remember someone you met a few hours ago."

"….I met you before?"

A few snickers were heard, though mostly from Akaya who was obviously trying to contain his laughter.

"Oh wait, now I remember," Riko said dramatically, hitting herself on the head. She really did remember now. That girl….. "You're Hikoba right? Oh wait no it was… Hiroba. No, Hitoka. Wait no no, I think it was Hibaka."

A fresh wave of snickers sprouted at the last one.

The other girl facing Riko was _livid_ with anger. "It's Hiroko," she snapped.

"Oh. Sorry," Riko said without sounding sorry at all. With that, she turned around and picked up a tennis ball, making movement to leave.

"Hey, watch it, you're not going anywhere!" Hiroko grabbed her arm and yanked her around. "As captain of the girl's tennis team, I herby declare that you are not allowed on the courts."

Riko stared. Who did this girl think she was? "And you say that because…?"

"You're obviously just here to flirt with the tennis regulars. I just want to remind you that tennis is an important sport that must be taken seriously. Seeing as you are only here to bag guys, I suggest you-"

Riko cut her off with a rather un-lady-like snort. "Che, if you think tennis is an important sport that must be taken seriously, why don't you play a match with me?"

Immediately Hiroko frowned. But everyone was watching, and she couldn't back down now. "….What makes you think I have the time to play with a lowly freshman like yourself?"

Riko sighed dramatically. "Well then, why don't you show everyone how _generous_ you are by playing with a _lowly freshman_ such as myself?" She smirked.

Hiroko scoffed. "I don't have a racquet."

Riko smiled sweetly. "Oh that's no problem. I'm sure you can just borrow one of fukubuchou's, he won't mind." With that, she reached into Sanada's tennis bag, which was sitting on bench near her, and pulled out Sanada's brand new racquet that he hadn't even used himself yet. Not that others had to know that. In fact, she also overheard Yukimura and Yanagi talking, saying that Sanada planned to use it for the first time during the school lineup matches. Well looks like that dream of his was dashed. Hopefully he wouldn't mind.

Riko handed the racquet to Hiroko, acting innocent.

Hiroko scowled. But then she thought about it. Riko had just played a match with Inui, who was no easy opponent. She must be extremely exhausted, and was probably just putting up a front to intimidate her. Of course, Hiroko didn't actually know how to play tennis, but that didn't matter. She just had to hit a few balls. It should be easy, right?

There was no way she would lose to someone who was already tired.

"Ok fine. No problem. Let's play. You can serve, if you want." Hiroko smirked, thinking she was being generous.

"Etto.. Can I be the umpire?" Horio asked, looking interested.

Riko shrugged and grudgingly agreed with a short, curt nod. She could already tell that Hiroko was bluffing about her tennis abilities. She wasn't even holding the racquet in any of the proper grips. But of course, none of the newest members could tell, so they were obviously extremely excited, anticipating a brilliant match.

With both of them on the baseline, Riko decided to go easy on Hiroko at first. She hit an easy underhand serve, which surprisingly Hiroko managed to return.

With that, she hit extremely easy shots to Hiroko, purposely letting her return them.

"Nya, nya, Oishi! Why is Ochibi hitting such easy shots? Is she already tired, nya?"

Oishi sighed, knowing exactly what Riko was up to. "Eiji, Kaidoh isn't the only player who likes to mess with his opponents or play with his food…"

"Ochibi is just acting, nya~?"

"Of course. You can't actually believe someone with skills like Riko would lose to someone like Hiroko, do you?" Marui answered, coming up beside them to watch the "game".

Riko purposely hit a seemingly easy shot in the court rather close to the edge line, knowing that Hiroko clearly didn't know how to play and was only hitting shots down the line (A/N: This means hitting it straight, like the opposite of hitting a shot cross court). Hiroko hit the shot, but to her surprise it began to move right, towards the out zone. Then, she breathed a sigh of relief as it landed inside the blue court, close to the outer white line.

And then.. "Out!" Riko called.

Hiroko frowned. "What the hell? That was in, wasn't it?" She turned around to look at others around them, trusting them to stand up for her when the shot was obviously not out. But to her surprise, they were all whispering as if they agreed with Riko.

Finally, a younger boy spoke up. "Um..u-u-m… it was actually out, Hiroko-kun."

Immediately she frowned. What was up with everyone? "Did none of you see that the last ball was in?" she demanded.

Everyone slowly shook their heads. Hiroko frowned and marched forward, tapping the corresponding point on her side of the court where the ball had landed on Riko's court. "It landed right here."

"Hiroko- _chan_ , this is a singles match. The outer set of lines are only used in _doubles_ matches. Don't tell me you didn't know that?" Riko feigned a look of shock.

Hiroko's face lit up brightly like a tomato. "Well-well- I mean… I- Psh of course I knew that! Now hurry up and serve!" she snapped, trying to pretend as if she had never said anything.

The game continued, and Riko felt pretty satisfied, having successfully shown that obviously this girl did _not_ know anything about tennis and was being a hypocrite. Riko stopped hitting easy returnable shots and began trying to finish the game as soon as possible, not wanting to waste time. After a mere 5 minutes and 9 seconds (apparently Yanagi and Inui had timed it together), Horio called out, "Game and Match. Echizen Riko, 6 games to 0."

As Riko walked off of the court, she pointed her racquet at Hiroko. "Mada mada dane."

And with that, Hiroko was obviously livid. She raised her racquet, slashing it violently through the air. Immediately, with her fast reflexes, Riko raised her own arm to counter the attack. But there was no impact…?

"…Buchou?" Yukimura had his hand firmly gripping the racquet head, preventing it from moving in any way.

"Hello Riko. Sanada, Atobe, Tezuka, Fuji, Oishitari, and I just finished discussing the first round practice match results. I apologize, Hiroko-san, but I believe there is no reason for you to remain here. I cannot have you causing harm to any of the tennis club members. Please leave immediately."

"Y-Y-Yukimura-sama? I can assure you, this is all a misunderstanding-"

"Wrong move." Sanada came up next to Yukimura. "I believe you were told to leave _immediately_. I understand that perhaps your vocabulary is limited. A simplification of the message would be, "Please get out right now"." He glared.

Looking terrified, Hiroko scurried off of the courts and ran away, bowing her head in shame as everyone else around the courts stared at her.

Everyone was silent for a moment. And then..

"Damnnnn Sanada, I didn't know you could be so blunt or rude!" Niou cheered enthusiastically, casually throwing his left arm over Sanada's shoulder, pulling him close. "Looks like I'm rubbing off on you!"

Sanada grimaced. "Niou, please-"

"FUKUBUCHOU! KAKOI (2)! Can I do that next time someone tries to bully Echizen? Can I? Huh? Can I?" Kirihara asked excitedly, bouncing up and down around the vice captain.

"Kirihara, can you-"

Before he could finish, Marui lept over onto his and Niou's shoulders and said, "Man that was sweet, did you see the look on her face? You gotta tell me how to glare like that someday!"

"Marui, don't-"

"Sanada-kun, I don't know if that degree of… bluntness was necessary, but it was certainly very surprising and entertaining to watch. I congratulate you."

"Huh? Yagyuu, why-"

"Well done, Sanada. According to my data, there was actually only a 0.1% chance you would choose to do something along those lines. I must also congratulate you on becoming less predictable. I should redo my calculations, this makes things very interesting…"

"Wait Renji when did-"

"Excellent job, Sanada!"

"Yukimura! Not you too, I-"

"Good job, Sanada." Riko saw Jackal clap Sanada heartily on the back.

"What the-who are-"

Sanada couldn't get a word in while people excitedly chattered around him. Riko smirked mockingly at him.

Clearly not a good move on her side, because Sanada then yelled out, "WHY DON'T YOU ALL CHECK IF ECHIZEN IS ALRIGHT?"

The effect was immediate. 

"RIKO! Are you alright? Here you must be exhausted have some cake!"

"No, Bunta, I don't need-"

"ECHIZEN! You're the best roommate don't die on me now, please you have to stay with us, hold on, someone call an ambulance!"

"Um Akaya I really don't think that's-"

"Excellently played, Echizen-kun. As your senpai, I would like to congratulate you. I believe that your one-footed split step you used against Inui might also be sufficient to reach my laser beam."

"Er thanks Yagyuu-senpai, but-"

"Huhhhhhhh Nicely played, Echizen-chan, wanna try that on me sometime?"

"Uh Niou-senpai honestly you're-"

"Hm interesting amount of data I've collected. This is wonderful. I should be able to design a perfect fitness regime for you by next week."

"Erm no it's fine-"

"Nice job, dude." Once again, Jackal's response was the most normal.

Riko was drowning in attention, and she didn't like it one bit.

Finally, "TARUNDORU!" Immediately everyone backed up, Niou let go of Riko, Marui dropped his cake, Akaya stopped shaking her and sobbing, Yanagi looked up from his data, and Yagyuu pushed his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose.

"AKAYA! NIOU! MARUI! RENJI! YAGYUU! 25 LAPS! NOW!"

Riko noticed Jackal's crestfallen face. When she blinked and looked again, she noticed him sobbing quietly in the corner at being forgotten again ( **A/N: Poor Jackal T-T)**.

The rest of the regulars who had been called quickly hurried to the track, but suddenly Akaya stopped.

"Eh? Jackal-senpai? Why are you crying?"

Jackal looked up at Akaya. "B-because I-I d-didn't g-get a-a-any l-l-l-l-laps!" He wailed.

Akaya looked at him funnily. "…Why would you want laps?" And then he ran off to do his own when Sanada glared at him.

"Jackal stop crying." Sanada said sternly.

"Jackal."

"Jackal."

"Jackal Kuwahara."

"JACKAL, TARUNDORU! 25 LAPS! GO!"

Immediately Jackal stopped crying, getting up and sprinting to catch up with the others.

Well then.

 **A/N: Ok so this chapter was really long. I mean kind of long. At least, compared to my other chapters. This one is like 3k words. Pretty good for me.**

 **As usual, review, favourite, follow, etc. only if you want to! It's a pet-peeve of mine when people do "review ransom" or "read ransom" as I call it (when they only post chapters after hitting a certain number of reads/reviews).**

 **Once again, thanks a lot because you guys motivate me to keep writing, and I'm now about to go finish writing the second chapter of Snowy Enigma.**

 **Hope y'all have/had a nice day!**

 **Ciao!**

Next up, on Devils and Demons:

"So you think just because you can play a little bit of kid tennis and serve some weird twisting shot that you can qualify as a regular? Think again, you little brat!"

"…Have a nice day."

"Oi! Is that any way for you to talk to your senpai? Get back here, you punk!"

"Calm down, she's just a girl. If you think you deserve to be a regular more than her, all you have to do is play a match."

"I _know_ I deserve it more than her. She's a girl, is this even allowed?"

"But you guys aren't in the same house."

"So? She's still putting my goal in jeopardy. _I_ am supposed to be the regular. What if they let her play in the _official_ _school_ lineup matches?"

"She even brought three racquets!"

"Arghh, I'll teach that kid a lesson during practice this afternoon!"

= Teaser End=

In the next chapter, you'll find that Riko's still going around and pissing people off. Can you guess who's mad at her this time?

Thanks for reading!

~Vieux


	7. CH 6: Mada Mada Dane, Senpai!

**A/N: Hi guys back with a new chapter! Sorry for the wait ;)**

 **Good job and congratulations to** **geekfreak101** **and** **VanriddleZ** **for guessing who the mysterious person in the teaser preview was :)**

 **There's only one week left until I can begin betareading for other people and I'm super excited :3 Anyways, enough rambles from me, enjoy this chapter!**

 **And also, clarification, not all of the 'previous' recaps will just be the last section of the previous chapter copied and pasted, I might pick a few random lines here and there that I feel sum up the chapter well together. Sort of like the format of a movie trailor, where there are quick cuts to show scenes. So yeah, if you see that it isn't exactly from the end of the chapter, I didn't copy the wrong section on accident ^-^**

* * *

Previously, on Devils and Demons:

"SUGOI, RIKO-CHAN!"

"Mada mada dane senpai!"

"..."

"AKAYA! NIOU! MARUI! RENJI! YAGYUU! 25 LAPS! NOW!"

"Eh? Jackal-senpai? Why are you crying?"

"Jackal stop crying." Sanada said sternly.

"Jackal."

"Jackal Kuwahara."

"JACKAL, TARUNDORU! 25 LAPS! GO!"

* * *

CH 5: Mada Mada Dane 

Riko was starting to settle into her new life at Seisen Academy. The institution was becoming familiar for her, and she could almost make it to classes on time now. Thanks to Yukimura, she was allowed to play on the boy's tennis team, provided she "keep her behaviour appropriate". Riko normally changed in the girl's locker room to avoid.. er… uncomfortable confrontations.

The competition matches that determined the official regular lineups for the year were approaching quickly. Sanada had explained the system to her just yesterday- each house played between themselves to find the top 5, who then all competed against each other in a pool of 15 players. There were only 8 regular spots (including the substitute position). In the recent years, the first string line-ups didn't change much, consisting of Tezuka, Yukimura, Atobe, and Sanada. The other four positions were up for grabs, although most of the time Niou and Fuji were guaranteed two of them. However, Riko was also told that it wasn't uncommon for the captains to refrain from playing in earlier rounds, especially in the district tournament, mostly because it wouldn't be in their favour to go around acting flashy and arrogant.

"HA race to you practice, Kikumaru-senpai!" Momoshiro darted out from around the corner and began sprinting as fast as he could.

"UWAHH you got a head start, Momo!" Kikumaru wailed, chasing after him frantically.

To her right, Riko could see a few of the Rikkai regualars heading towards the courts as well. How could these people be such… early birds? She was still drowsy and could barely open her eyes, because she had chosen to sleep in versus going for her routine morning jog (technically it wasn't her fault that she and Kirihara had stayed up past midnight playing Counterstrike…).

"Hey Bakaya, I bet I can hit a ball farther than you can," Niou smirked, reaching out to ruffle Kirihara's seaweed like hair.

Kirihara scowled. "Cannot"

"Can to."

"Not."

"To."

"Not."

"To."

"Not."

"Not."

"To- Hey wait, that's cheating, Niou-senpai!"

Niou just walked away cackling. Riko sighed at their behaviour. Suddenly, Kirihara noticed her.

"Oi, Echizen! Be my warm-up partner for both practices today!" He called. "Oh and did you know that line-up matches will start in a week? You better train hard, not that it makes _that_ much of a difference because I'll beat you and take a spot anyways!"

"…That's impossible."

"Ehh? That's mean, Echizen-chan!"

"Shut it, Wakame."

"Echiiiiiizzzeeeennnnn-"

"Akaya, hurry up and get over here. Warm-up matches will begin soon."

"Buchou, why don't you scold Echizen too?"

"Because it's obvious you're the reason she can't speed up her walking pace. But both of you, please hurry, or else _there will be consequences_." With that, Yukimura smiled scarily.

Both Riko and Akaya ran to the courts in a hurry, ducking to avoid Yukimura's gaze.

"Alright, today we will begin with warm-up stretches, which all of you will complete with a partner. After stretching, both of you will run 30 laps and play a six game match, with no tie-breakers. If the score reaches 6 games all, the match will be considered a tie. This is in preparation for the line-up matches, which will begin next week. Please work hard, as the district tournament is also nearing and we have a reputation to uphold. Dismissed." Tezuka turned around, along with Atobe and Yukimura, and walked towards the court gates.

Immediately whispers broke out, "Hey, I heard that Tezuka-buchou has never lost a match,"

Turning around, Riko wasn't surprised to see that it was Horio, who was one half of the pair she and Kirihara had dubbed the "Seigaku Loud Mouth Duo", with the other half being Tomoka.

"Well Yukimura buchou has never even dropped a game," Kirihara snapped. "I'll go show them."

"Hey, just drop it. We have to warm up," Riko said, tugging at his sleeve to restrain him.

He scowled but eventually conceded. After finishing their laps, Kirihara went off to refill his waterbottle and Riko decided to take a quick break before their match started. Picking up Kirihara's Pro Tennis magazine, she flipped through until she found a section detailing a few new shots that were becoming more prominent in the pro circuit. Taking a look at them couldn't yield any harm. Perhaps she would be able to use a few of them in the District Tournament.

"Oi oi oi, look what we have here," a voice drawled from behind her. Riko completely ignored it.

"Ey, the little kid just ignored you, Arai! What are you going to do about it?" Another voice taunted. A vein appeared on Riko's head. Why did some people have to be so loud when she was trying to focus?

"Excuse me, but could you please quiet down? I'm trying to read." Riko masked most of her annoyance with a carefully measured voice, although she did let a bit of her irritation seep through, just to let them know she was serious.

"Tch is that any way to talk to your senpai? Listen up, you-"

"Pardon me, but I have a warm-up match to play. Maybe I'll have time to hear you out later," Riko mocked in a fake-polite way. She waved her racquet in the air as she walked away. "Ja!"

"Oi! Is that any way for you to talk to your senpai? Get back here, you punk!"

"Whatever, let's warm up first so when Tezuka-buchou comes back it'll look like we're doing hard work."

Arai scowled. "Fine."

Riko and Kirihara rallied back and forth, not too seriously. They had started out a very serious competition, with neither party willing to give any ground, but had quickly been scolded by Sanada for "showing off" and "playing too hard", which Riko found ironic as he and Yukimura were currently in an intense match two courts to their right. Of course, when they had both mentioned it as the two players were switching courts, Sanada had declared it was "just different".

"You don't need to play each other so seriously and reveal all your tricks, Yanagi wants data on your match anyways. Wait until next week, you'll both get all the competition you want," Sanada had said, scowling.

As they continued their casual play, Riko noticed Arai glaring at her from his court to her left. Oh well.

The rest of practice passed rather smoothly, despite everyone in Seigaku but the regulars being subject to Inui's new drink. As she packed up her bags and exited the girl's locker room, Riko realized that she had left her waterbottle on the court benches.

"Argh.. oh well, looks like I'll be late for class again…" She muttered as she headed back to grab it. As she reached the court, she found Arai and his gang of friends still hanging around, as if they were waiting for her.

"If he wants a confrontation, he'll get it," she breathed under her breath, glaring at them. "Hey, thanks for looking out for me and grabbing my water bottle," she called, raising a hand as if to catch it.

"Hm? Water bottle? Oh this?" Arai waved it in the air. "I was actually thinking that you could use a new one. It's getting a bit old, don't you think?"

Riko's eyes narrowed. What was he playing at?

"No, I think it's fine."

"Well really, I think you need a new one. Here, let me do you a favour, I'll just toss it for you so you don't have to." Arai reached his arm out as if about to enter a tossing motion, with this fingers wrapped around her water bottle and his hand pointed towards a black trash can sitting a few meters away.

"…No offense, but if you threw it from your current position… would you even be able to make it?"

Arai scowled. "It's not as if you would be able to."

"As a matter of fact, I would," Riko retorted, unable to let the insult on her character slide past.

"Prove it then. Serve this tennis ball into the trashcan."

"Firstly, serving and tossing are two different things. Secondly, I don't see how this relates to you tossing a projectile into the trashcan, or you returning my water bottle. However, I will humour you."

With that, Riko reached out and took the tennis ball from Arai. She couldn't resist adding a bit of flair to it. After all, a normal serve would be too boring, wouldn't it?

Tossing the ball up, she jumped and did a twist serve, with the ball bouncing straight up, hitting the upper trashcan rim, and swivelling neatly in. Arai was scowling. She reached out and grabbed her water bottle back from his grip.

"Thank you for your efforts, _senpai_."

"So you think just because you can play a little bit of kid tennis and serve some weird twisting shot that you can qualify as a regular? Think again, you little brat!"

"…Have a nice day."

"Oi! Is that any way for you to talk to your senpai? Get back here, you punk!"

"Calm down, she's just a girl. If you think you deserve to be a regular more than her, all you have to do is play a match."

Arai's scowl deepened further. "I _know_ I deserve it more than her. She's a girl, is this even allowed?"

"Well I heard Yukimura made arrangements-"

"Yeah because she probably bribed him with money!"

"Erm I don't know if Yukimura needs money-"

"I'm going to get my revenge, she has it coming to her."

"But you guys aren't in the same house-"

"So? She's still putting my goal in jeopardy. _I_ am supposed to be the regular. What if they let her play in the _official_ _school_ lineup matches?"

"Well technically-"

"I _will_ get her back somehow-"

"Arai, could you just let us finish?"

"She even brought three racquets!"

"…"

"Arghh, I'll teach that kid a lesson during practice this afternoon!"

* * *

"AH GOMEN, GOMEN!" Kirihara yelled as he darted down the hallway, students scattering left and right to make way for him. He jumped down an entire flight of stairs and slid down the railing for the next flight.

 _Crap crap crap crap crap, Echizen's going to kill me… Kuso….._

He sprinted out of the school and towards the courts, ignoring the fact that toting around his heavy school bag (he hadn't had time to put it away in his dorm room like usual) was causing him some extreme discomfort in the spinal region, especially around his shoulders. He could see all the members from all three houses already gathered up ahead…

"BUCHOU! I'M HERE!" He yelled loudly, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"….."

"Oi, Bakaya, why are you late? I had to do stretches with Bunta, for god's sake!" Riko snapped, looking pissed.

"I know, I know, I'm so sorry! I had to stay behind in my English class-"

"Enough. Akaya, go get changed immediately, you will be playing a match with Jackal this afternoon," Sanada barked.

"Aww but I was going to play with Echizen-chan, pleaseeee!"

"10 laps in addition to your match with Jackal."

"But fukubuchouuuuuuuuu…"

"Make that 30 laps."

"Wahh fine!" Kirihara pouted and scowled while he ran towards the boys' locker room to change and drop off his ridiculously heavy school bag.

Meanwhile..

"First years, regardless of your current skill level and house, you will all be completing 10 laps and fifty sit-ups. If you finish under the time limit, you will be exempt from punishment." Tezuka's glasses glinted once more. "Would you like to announce the daily menu, Yukimura?"

"It would be my pleasure. All of you who are unable to complete this exercise will get the honour drinking a new invention by Inui-san, called Penal Tea! In fact, I believe it would be best for us to have two students do a taste test. Would anyone like to volunteer?" Yukimura's sadistic side was coming out again.

"Buchou, I'm back!" Immediately all eyes turned to Kirihara. "Ehh?"

"Thank you for volunteering, Kirihara!"

"Wait what's going on buchou, why is-"

"Excellent, it seems we have our first volunteer! Kirihara Akaya, class 1-5, first year, and member of the Rikkai Dai house!" Oishitari announced in a deep voice.

"As per Yukimura's words, we need one more student volunteer!" Eiji added, also speaking in an announcer voice.

( **A/N: I chose Eiji and Oishitari mainly because they were the "announcers"/hosts for the Yakiniku competition between all the schools, which took place in the 20** **th** **episode of the Nationals arc, definitely recommend watching it because it's hilarious!)**

"Because there seem to be no more volunteers, we will pick a member at random!" Yukimura smiled. Everyone seemed to shrink, and a few people visibly ducked behind their neighbors. "Masaharu, would you like to be our selector?"

Everyone stiffened further and looked, if possible, even more nervous.

"Of course, Yukimura! Let's see, allow me to spin around at random here…" Niou did a very poor imitation of a "randomized spin" with his arm raised and hand outstretched. "And.. here we go… AHA!" Of course he stopped on..

Riko.

"Senpai, how was that remotely random?"

"Because I didn't plan it."

"…Oh really?"

"Do you have any proof I planned it?"

"Well do you have any proof you didn't?"

"What was it that you Americans always say… Innocent until proven not innocent, right?" Niou grinned.

"I believe the proper phrase is 'Innocent until proven guilty', Niou." Yagyuu looked up with a sigh.

"Sure sure, whatever you say, Yeah-gyu. It's all the same thing anyways."

"Well, moving on from that discussion, we have our second contestant! Echizen Riko, also from Class 1-5, also a first year, and _also_ a member of the Rikkai Dai house!"

Everyone sighed in relief, feeling gratitude towards the gods for not having been chosen.

Yukimura's eyes glinted dangerously. "Ok, your task is simple. This is merely a taste-testing. A small cup will suffice." With that, he whipped out two rather _large_ cups and placed them side by side on a tray that Yanagi held out to him. At a wave of his hand, Inui poured the foul smelling liquid, making sure the amounts in both cups were equal.

"Excellent. The winner of this contest will be the one who can down the tea the fastest without exhibiting uncontrollable side effects. Ready… "

At the word 'competition', both Riko and Akaya stiffened and stared each other down.

"Set…"

They both braced themselves.

"Go!"

Grabbing the glasses, the two first year students began to chug, as everyone else around them watched breathlessly.

It was fine at first, until suddenly Riko felt a heat crawl up her throat and a weird tingling feeling developing on her neck and cheeks. Pushing down her gagging reflexes, as well as her strong urge to vomit, she continued chugging. Then, the back of her eyelids began to burn and her tongue went numb.

Next to her, Kirihara was not doing any better. Of course, he had chugged quite quickly in the beginning, hoping to save himself from any prolonged tastes of the foul liquid. Unfortunately, his plan backfired when he felt his stomach churn and gurgle with its newest addition. He even more thought it was a bad idea when the inside of his mouth and cheeks began to feel swollen and sore. As he continued, he felt a sharp pain in his lower left abdominal region, and suddenly, the both stopped…

…stared…

…and passed out.

* * *

 **A/N: To be honest in my outline I planned for Arai's confrontation to happen in this chapter, as well as another major event, but I kinda already have 3k words and I feel as if I'm making this chapter too long… so I'll save it for next time. I will most likely be updating again pretty soon because I have a math test and a Spanish quiz (which means no homework yay!).**

 **Also, I will be updating my other stories and posting a new one-shot OR a new full-length story, so hopefully you guys can look forward to that :)**

 **Once again, thank you to everyone who takes the time to read, review, follow, favourite, etc. because it means a lot to me and motivates me to keep writing. Literally.**

 **So far, thank you to the following people for reviewing (I would do favourites and follows, but I'm not sure if those people would be comfortable with their username posted/made public for others, so for now we'll stick with reviews)**

 **VanriddleZ**

 **bekahguertin**

 **greekfreak101**

 **Sassbrat**

 **Bookworm54321**

 **Ageha Yume**

 **gaara king of the sand**

 **SnowyIce**

 **And thanks to those of you who are showing support behind the scenes too! We just hit 32 follows and passed 1.5k views so I really feel grateful to you guys!**

 **Also, some people seem to believe that focusing on one major story is better, because you can dedicate more time to it, which I fully agree with. But I really like writing multiple stories at a time, mainly because I can just switch whenever I get writer's block, so I'm going to continue writing a few stories at a time (probably no more than 6-7 of course, too much school work _)**

 **If you want me to betaread your work, you can always request :)**

 **Ciao!**

 **~Vieux**

 **Sorry for the particularly long A/N !**


	8. CH 7: The Note and the Letter

**A/N: Hi guys if you read my other stories you probably already know this, but I just finished my two exam weeks YAY. That means more fanfiction :D Anyways, I still have a few quizzes next week, but no biggie :D So sorry for the long period of no updating!**

 **And also FFN keeps making me agree to the Content Guidelines, I wonder why it won't remember it despite how I previously agreed (only like 10 times psh)….**

 **Changing up the teaser for this chapter because I changed laptops and don't currently feel like pulling up my previous chapter. Also, because it's the 7** **th** **post (6** **th** **chapter, since one was a prologue) and I like the number 7, I'll do a quick recap of everything that's happened up to this point :)**

 **Warning: Will be a short chapter because it's getting late and I can barely keep my eyes open -.-**

* * *

 _Previously, on Devils and Demons_

Echizen Riko is a freshman who is attending Seisen Academy

She meets her childhood friend Marui Bunta, and ends up rooming with Kirihara Akaya (a fellow freshman)

She gets sorted into the Rikkai Dai house

She manages to impress Yukimura and earn a spot on the Rikkai male tennis team despite being a girl

She pisses off a bunch of people (i.e. jealous girls + Arai)

She defeats Kaidoh from Seigaku house

She drinks Inui juice with Akaya and they both pass out

* * *

CH 6: The Note and the Letter

* * *

When Riko woke up again, her head was pounding and her limbs felt oddly heavy. The whiteness of the room momentarily blinded her, as her eyes tried to adjust to the sudden lighting changes.

"Uh… Where am I?" She asked as she sat up slowly.

"Ah Echizen-san, I'm afraid you passed out during tennis practice. Yukimura-san brought you here, while Sanada-san brought your roommate over there."

Ignoring the throbbing ache, Riko turned her head to see Akaya sitting up and drinking a glass of water. "I…. I passed out… during tennis?" She muttered.

"Yes, I'm afraid another student hit you in the head with a ball."

Riko was confused. "No they didn't-"

"Yes yes, of course they did. Sorry nurse, she's just confused," Akaya suddenly interrupted, speaking loudly. "She's kind of disorientated. You would be too if you just get hit really hard in the head."

"But I remember, we were drinking-"

"Water! We were drinking water. Someone hit us from behind," Akaya interrupted again.

Riko was beginning to get irritated.

"Why are you lying? I clearly remember-"

"Getting hit in the head. I know." _Damn, why won't she catch on?_ Akaya wondered. "A-anyways, now that she's awake, I think we should head back to our dorms and rest. After all, you'll probably need these beds for other patients. The… um… the… the… Rugby! Yes, that's it. The Rugby team is practicing today. We'll just be heading back."

With that, Akaya hopped down from the bed where he was sitting, grabbed Riko's wrist, and pulled them out of the room as fast as he could.

"Dammit Echizen, you're not very smart," he complained. "OW!" he shrieked as Riko karate chopped him hard on the head. "I mean, I was trying to hid the fact that Inui-senpai and Yanagi-senpai made such dangerous concoctions. What if they get expelled?"

"…"

"Anyways, let's just go."

"Why are we going this way?" Riko wondered.

"…What do you mean?"

"Aren't you going back to practice?"

"…And get assigned laps by fukubuchou? No way," Akaya wailed.

"If he finds out we skipped we'll just get more…"

But in the end Akaya pulled the puppy-eyes and they wound up heading back to the dorm to play xbox. As they reached their room, Riko noticed the sticky-note stuck on the door.

"Due to low academic performance and high involvement in extracurricular activities, both Kirihara-san and Echizen-san will be required to attend mandatory study sessions ever week, starting today, unless further arrangements with your professors are arranged," Riko read out loud.

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" Kirihara yelled.

"I DON'T KNOW! WHAT DO WE DO?" Riko yelled back.

"I DON'T KNOW EITHER! UM…"

"QUICK, HIDE THE NOTE BEFORE ANYONE ELSE SEES IT!" Riko yelled.

"RIGHT, WHERE DO WE HIDE IT- OH I GOT IT, STICK IT UNDER THE DRAWERS IN THE CLOSET!"

Riko did so immediately, as if the paper was something hot that was going to burn her if she held onto it for too long.

"…Wait if we don't want others to know, why are we yelling?" She wondered.

"Hm… I don't know," Kirihara blinked.

A soft silence ensued.

"Oh well, let's just get started on the new game," Riko muttered.

They both sat down on the couch as the yellow paper under the cabinet drawers was forgotten, and the idea of tennis practice completely slipped their minds.

Unfortunately, Yanagi-senpai and his research abilities were also forgotten.

* * *

"Yukimura, according to my calculations, both Akaya and Riko should have woken up by now," Yanagi muttered, studying a few pieces of paper carefully.

"What do you have there?" Sanada asked, panting slightly as he finished his 105th lap.

"The physical examination papers of our two freshman members. They seem to have forgotten to return to practice. Shall I go find them?"

"No, Genichirou can take care of it, Renji." Yukimura smiled scarily. "They'll soon regret having forgotten. Right, Sanada?"

"Of course, Yukimura."

Yukimura's eyes glinted.

* * *

"Ne, I think someone's excessively mad at me," Akaya said as he jammed buttons on his controller.

"Yeah, me too. I keep getting the shivers," Riko agreed as she made her 50th combo kill.

"Someone must be thinking about us in a negative way."

And then, all the way out on the Rikkai tennis courts, Yukimura sneezed.

Suddenly, there was an insistent knocking at the door.

"Go get it, Kirihara."

"No, you get it," he whined.

"You get it." Riko didn't even look at Akaya and she focused her attention on the screen.

"No, you." Akaya too turned his entire attention towards how his character was moving.

"You."

"You."

"You."

"You."

"Me."

"Me."

"Ha!"

"Hey no fair, that was the trick that Niou-senpai used!" Kirihara wailed. Finally, he paused his side of the game and stood up, prepared to open the door. But before he had even moved more than 3 steps from the couch, the door burst open with a slam, to reveal…

"S-S-SANADA FUKUBUCHOU!?"

* * *

Despite their claims of becoming dizzy, experiencing nausea, and generally feeling sick overall, Riko and Akaya found themselves running 200 laps around the tennis courts as the rest of the members all went home.

When they finished and parted ways to change, Riko noticed that her shoe locker was suspiciously closed, despite the fact that she almost always left it open. Immediately on alert, she carefully shifted to the side, reached out, and tentatively pulled open the locker with a swift motion. Immediately a barrage of junk flooded out. It would have hit her in the face if she hadn't been as careful and observant as she was.

She quickly cleaned the stuff up and tossed it into a nearby trashcan. Because there weren't any cameras in the locker room, she wouldn't be able to figure out who did it that easily. But it didn't really matter anyways, because she was an Echizen, and she didn't care for such underhanded moves.

At first, she thought it was Arai, until she remembered that there was almost no way he would have gotten into the _girl's_ locker room. She changed quickly, and hesitated a moment, before deciding to bring her shoes back to the dorm. She didn't trust the people around her enough to just leave them there.

As she exited the girl's locker room, she ran into Kirihara again who seemed to have been waiting for her. They fell into a comfortable synchronized walking pace back towards their dorm.

"Man, that sucked!"

"Whose fault was it for deciding to skip practice? I told you it was stupid," Riko snapped angrily.

"Well I didn't make you listen to me!" Akaya defended himself.

"Yes you did."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Too."

"Not."

"Too."

"Not."

"Not."

"Too- hey, not again!"

As they entered their room, Riko decided to put her clothes away, so she approached the closet. Distracted, she remained oblivious to the letter that fluttered out of her messy bundle of sports clothes. Because she was talking to Kirihara, she didn't notice as the white sheet of paper carefully placed within an envelope fluttered to the ground and was kicked carelessly under the cabinet drawers, landing next to a certain yellow note.

* * *

 **A/N: Really short chapter, 1.5k words only, I'm sorry.. But good news is that I'll probably be updating tomorrow or sometime within the next 48 hours, so you guys will get another one soon.**

 **Random fact, I finished an anime called Eyeshield 21, and it's so good that I just have to write fanfiction for it. Seriously deserves more love guys. So if you're looking for a long sports anime series, I would totally recommend it. I could write a whole review for it over here to add another 1k words to my story, but I'll spare you guys :D You can visit my profile if you want some anime recommendations :)**

 **If you read any of my other fanfictions, you'll be happy to know that I've updated almost all of them too :)**

 **Ciao!**

 **~Vieux**


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